The Mission
by Rackuhn
Summary: The team goes on a mission that turns real bad, real fast.


THE MISSION

By Rackuhn

Disclaimer: Don't own them, just like to mess with them. No money exchanged hands in the writing of this piece. That's right! I have no money to give anyone. I'm broke. Hope you enjoy.

Rating: PG13

Summary: The team goes on a mission that turns real bad, real fast.

The mission could be considered a success, but it didn't turn out the way it was planned.

Hannibal sat in the back of the plane, eyes unfocused, thinking about what had gone wrong, how the team could have done things differently. He personally blamed himself for what happened down in the small Mexican town, but he knew that there was nothing that he could have done differently.

Hannibal turned his gaze over to BA who was sitting in the chair across the small aisle, but this time, he was awake. Hannibal would have laughed at the thought that BA was actually conscious on this flight home, but the circumstances that happened before they boarded the plane kept all humor at bay. BA, even though he was awake, really didn't seem to realize that he was on the plane. His thoughts were clearly on the events that happened earlier, the events that had changed everything. Hannibal watch as BA's fists continued to clench and relax as he continued to think about what had happened.

He then turned his attention to the front of the plane. He watched as Murdock flew the plane manually instead of using the autopilot. It helped him to keep focused; he didn't want to think about what happened right now either. He needed to stay together so that he could get the rest of the team home.

Hannibal closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then turned in his chair to the spot where his Lieutenant lay on the floor, unmoving. A blanket covered Face as the plane continued its northerly direction. Hannibal saw the paleness of his friend's face, the pallor of death written over it. His eyes were open, but the brilliant blue of life that use to shine from them was no longer there, just an empty void. Hannibal realized that this last mission had changed the team in many ways and it would be a long time before they got over it. Once again he wondered if he could have done anything different.

_Hannibal sat in the truck that Face had scammed earlier. It was an old box truck with the sides and top missing from the back portion, making it a large flatbed instead. "It was the best I could come up with down here. Not much choice ya know," Face told him as BA inspected the engine and tires. "I don't know Hannibal. This thing needs a lot of work," BA said as he completed the inspection. "Not to worry BA. We only need it to get us to El Gato's compound, break him out, and leave. Piece of cake." "I really hate it when you say that Hannibal. Something always goes wrong when you say that," Face whined while pulling down the other supplies that he had appropriated. "What could possibly go wrong Face?" Hannibal asked with a glimmer in his eye. "Everything," Face deadpanned. "Have a little confidence me boy," Hannibal said with a slight Irish accent, throwing his arm around his Lieutenant's neck. "This plan never fails." _

_"Oh no, not the front door again, Hannibal?" Murdock asked as he jumped down from the back of the truck._

_"It'll never work man," BA added. "Something always ends up going wrong."_

_"Not this time, BA. All we got to do is crash through the gate, take out the guards there, take out the other guards that are in front of the slimeball's hut, grab El Gato, and take off. Simple, huh?"_

_"And what about the other guards around El Gato? He usually has about three others around him at all times with enough fire power to blow up a city dump," Face questioned._

_"Oh don't worry about them. They'll be so surprised by BA's entrance with the truck that they'll be hiding with their tails between their legs," Hannibal said while waving his cigar around. "Once we have El Gato, we jump back on the truck and take him back to the local authorities, which so happen to be on our side this time."_

_Hannibal smiled as the other three men all groaned at the prospect of Hannibal's simple plan. They knew that Hannibal's plans never worked out the way they were intended to, but they always did manage to get the job done. Now all they had to do was to convince the bad guys about the plan._

_"El Gato", a.k.a. Romero Rodriguez, had been terrorizing the small villages in the area for over a year. He and his men would come around and take all the viable adult males and teenaged boys and used them for slave labor at a mining colony that he was running. Anyone that refused to work was killed immediately to show the others that his cooperation was mandatory. Some of the village elders managed to make their way to the states so that they could hire the infamous A-Team to help them. Today the team was fortunate enough to have El Gato at his private compound, where even though it was heavily guarded; it was not as guarded as the mining sight. Hannibal and the Elders knew that once El Gato was out of the picture, the guards at the mining operation would easily give up. Most of them were only there working as guards because it was either that or work the mines themselves._

_Three hours later, BA had the old truck running smoothly. The ammunition and weapons that Face had scammed earlier was loaded onto the truck, and the team was set to ride. Hannibal and BA sat in the front of the truck with BA behind the wheel, while Face and Murdock clamored up onto the back. As they started heading out, Murdock let loose with one of his famous banshee screams as the villager's waved at them._

_Half an hour later they arrived at El Gato's compound. Hannibal had BA stop just far enough away so that they would not be detected. He did a last minute run down of the area, making sure that the guards were where they should be. Hannibal smiled as he found that everything and everyone was in place. "Okay guys. Party's on. Let's do it!"_

_BA gunned the engine of the old truck and the wheels spun into the loose gravel sending it everywhere. Gaining speed, BA headed the truck directly for the main gate of the compound. The guard that was standing there stood in a threatening pose, gun pointed directly at the truck. The guard soon realized that the truck was not stopping and jumped out of the way before he was hit. The gate that was behind him wasn't so lucky when BA smashed right through it, debris flying everywhere._

_Murdock spotted three guards to the right of the truck and started firing his automatic weapon. The guards couldn't react in time and went running for cover. Before they had a chance to really hide behind anything, Face threw one of the grenades at the threesome and it exploded within feet of the scrambling men. Two of the guards went flying and landed hard on the ground, while the third was blown into the air and landed on hood top of a nearby jeep. None of them were moving too quickly._

_After Face threw the grenade, he turned to the left of the truck and spotted two more guards on the roof of one of the buildings, aiming their weapons at the truck. Once more Face threw one of the explosives and it landed just behind the two-armed guerillas. Both men recognized what it was and jumped off of the roof just as the grenade exploded. They too landed hard on the ground and were not getting back up anytime soon. Murdock and Face turned and smiled at each other._

_BA aimed the truck directly at the building where El Gato was hiding in. He floored the accelerator while Hannibal hung out the passenger side window firing his weapon at the two guards. They tried to duck out of the way, but were forced to jump to safety when they saw that the truck was not stopping. Hannibal pulled himself inside the truck, while Murdock and Face ducked down behind the truck cab just as BA sent the truck through the front door._

_The wall of the building shattered from the force of the impact and the three guards and El Gato all dove for cover as the truck came to a stop. Face and Murdock quickly jumped down from the back and landed right on top of the two closest guards, knocking them to the floor before they had a chance to get up. BA quickly made short order of the third guard when his huge fist slammed into the guards face._

_Hannibal was just getting out of the truck when the two guards that stood outside entered through the hole in the wall. Hannibal hit the one guard in the stomach with the butt of his rifle, doubling the man over, then knocked him on the back of the head, sending the man to the ground. He looked up just in time to see Murdock tackle the other guard, wrestle the rifle away from him, and use it against the side of the man's head. Murdock moved when he saw BA coming up behind him with the unconscious guard still in his hands. He smiled when BA threw the man on top the one that Murdock just took out._

_Face, who had just knocked out the man he tackled with his weapon, suddenly felt the point of a knife blade against his back. "Drop it, Senor," the voice from behind told him. Face, having no choice in the matter, did what he was told. Face then felt the knife move from his back to across his throat as El Gato slipped into position behind him, using Face as a human shield. Hannibal turned to see what was going on when he heard the voice threatening Face._

_"Nobody move, or I'll kill him," El Gato said in his accented voice. The rest of the team stood there waiting for a chance for rescue. El Gato tightened his grip on Face's neck and arm as he studied the men in front of him. "You will drop your weapons, or he will die." Face just stood there limp, allowing the man to maneuver him around._

_"Let him go, El Gato. There's no way you can escape," Hannibal bluffed. "We have you surrounded."_

_"No!" he shouted back. "You, all of you, put your weapons down now or I will slice his throat!" To prove his point, the blade of the knife sunk deeper into Face's neck until a drop of blood started running down._

_"You hurt him and I'll kill you myself," Hannibal threatened._

_"Put your weapons down now!" El Gato shouted tightening his grip on the knife._

_Hannibal seeing the desperation in El Gato's eyes grudgingly obeyed and dropped his weapon to the floor. Murdock and BA followed suit. El Gato, seeing his victory, carefully maneuvered Face and himself closer to the hole in the wall. Just as the both of them stood in front of it, El Gato turned both of them to face the rest of the team. "Say goodbye to your friend."_

_Face felt the blade start to slide across his neck when out of nowhere his survival instincts suddenly kicked in. Moving faster than El Gato ever expected, Face grabbed the man's hand that held the knife and pushed it away from himself. Still holding onto El Gato's hand, he suddenly twisted around, until he heard the definite snap of bones breaking in his nemesis' arm. But before El Gato could even scream in pain, Face shoved the knife deep into the man's chest._

_The others scrambled when they saw Face go into action, but all of them knew it was too late. They watched in horror as the blade sunk into El Gato's chest. BA was the first one to get to Face and wrapped both of his arms around the Lieutenant, grabbing him from behind and pulling Face away from the deadly terrorist. They all watched as the man sunk to the floor in a heap, the knife still protruding from his chest._

_Knowing that Face was still secured by BA, Hannibal took the Lieutenant's face in both of his hands to turned it towards his own, forcing Face to focus on him. "Face! It's over! Face can you hear me?" Hannibal shouted. He looked carefully into Face's eyes as he saw the recognition return and then the horror of what he just did hit him._

_"Oh God, Hannibal," Face said quietly as his knees gave way. BA who was still holding onto him helped ease him to the ground. Tears started flowing from the Lieutenant's eyes as realization hit him hard. "I killed him," he whispered to no one in particular. Hannibal watched as Face's eyes glazed over knowing what his young friend was thinking._

_He knelt down beside Face and quietly spoke. "Face, it was self-defense. You did not murder that man." Hannibal could tell that he was not getting through. "You did not kill him in cold blood, you did not break our pact." The other three men knew what was going through Face's mind, the pact that they made after Vietnam, that they would never kill another human being again. The three of them realized that this was an act of self-defense, not a calculated, cold-blooded murder, but they also knew that Face wasn't seeing it that way._

_Murdock, who had been standing quietly by, suddenly knelt down by his best friend and embraced him tightly, effectively blocking Face's view of the body. He slowly rocked Face back and forth whispering quietly into the man's ear. He backed away slightly to look into his friend's face, and saw the blood that was running down Face's neck. Quickly he grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket and placed it against the open wound. "Colonel, he's hurt," Murdock said calmly, trying not to upset Face anymore._

_"How bad?"_

_Murdock pulled the handkerchief away slightly and saw that though the wound was long but it wasn't very deep. "It's not too bad, but we need to at least bandage it up for him." Hannibal nodded as he leaned slightly onto one leg and pulled out a syringe from his pocket that was meant for BA's return trip home. BA saw what Hannibal had in his hand and nodded his approval. He watched as the Colonel injected Face with the half the dosage that would be used on BA to help calm him down and make him sleep. Once Face was totally relaxed in Murdock's arms, BA gently picked him up and carried him to the back of the truck. They found an old blanket and covered him up for the trip._

_"Get us to the landing strip BA," Hannibal said as he and Murdock sat down on either side of Face. BA nodded and started the truck up. BA headed straight for the plane after stopping in the village to inform the local authorities what had happened. They were quietly thanked by the villagers for what they did, and were told that their own people could handle the rest. Twenty minutes later, they loaded Face onto the plane and Murdock advanced it down the runway._

Hannibal was shaken out of his revelry when he heard someone calling his name. Looking back, he saw Face sitting up and staring at him. "Face!" Hannibal said as he moved to kneel down next to his Lieutenant. "How ya feeling, kid?" Hannibal noticed the fear in Face's eyes but they seem brighter than a short time ago and he seemed to have more color in his features.

"Lousy," Face answered, sadness still in his voice. He sat up, looking around, noticing that they were in the airplane. "Where are we?"

"Oh, about halfway home," Hannibal replied, sitting down next to Face and pulled him close. Face saw BA sitting in one of the chairs, very stiff, hands clenching and unclenching.

"Is BA awake?" Face asked in astonishment.

"Yep."

"How'd you manage that?" questioned Face as he turned back to face Hannibal.

"Actually, he was more worried about you than flying on a plane," Hannibal said nonchalantly. "I sedated you using the Novocain that I would have used on him. He carried you to the truck, drove us to the airstrip, carried you to the plane, and sat down in that chair there. He's been like that since we took off."

"He did that for me?" Face asked in wonderment.

"He sure did," Hannibal grinned, "although, I don't think that he is really too concerned about flying at the moment, I believe he is still thinking about what happened earlier."

"Well, he's not the only one," Face responded turning away from Hannibal's gaze.

"Want to talk about it?" Hannibal asked not sure how his Lieutenant would respond.

"What's there to talk about? I murdered a man, end of story."

Hannibal sat there in astonishment for a moment looking at his young friend. "Face, what you did today was not murder, it was self defense."

"Same results though."

"True, but there is a difference."

"Yeah right," Face said dejectedly. "And I suppose that you're going to tell me that I'm still part of the team?"

Hannibal was stunned. "What? Face, you are part of the team. You will always be part of the team."

"How can I when I broke the one promise that we all made together; never taking another life? I killed someone, Hannibal." Face started to get agitated at the proximity of Hannibal. He tried to get up, but Hannibal pulled right back down and held him there. "Let go of me Hannibal!"

"Not until you hear me out, Lieutenant!" Face knew he wasn't going anywhere when Hannibal pulled rank and stopped his struggling. "Murdock, BA and I saw what happened today and what you did _was_ self defense. You did not kill El Gato in cold blood."

"How can you say that? He's dead isn't he?" Face yelled back. "I killed him!"

"Yes, he is dead, but you could never kill anyone in cold blood. That's not you!" Hannibal answered. "El Gato was the cold blooded killer. If fact, he was willing to kill you so that he could escape." Hannibal watched Face's expressions and saw that he wasn't getting through to the young man. "Face, that man held you at knife point, threatening to kill you if we didn't put our weapons down. When we did, he still dragged you over to the hole in the wall and started slicing your throat so that he could escape. It was only then, that your instincts and Special Forces training kicked in. It was at that point of kill or be killed that you turned the tables on him."

Face looked at Hannibal with a stunned expression on his own face. "He started slicing my throat?" Face reached up and felt the bandages that were wrapped around his neck as he realized that they were there for the first time.

"Yeah he did," Hannibal answered softly. "But don't worry, it doesn't look too bad. We've been keeping an eye on it. I'll have Maggie check the wound out when we get back to the states to make sure everything is fine. Then we are all going to go hideout somewhere for a few weeks so that all of us can work through this. You aren't the only one that has been effected by this mission, but you sure took the brunt of it."

Face dropped his hands from his bandaged neck and leaned back into Hannibal as the tension of the last few hours started melting away. "I didn't realize that he tried to kill me," Face said quietly. "I…I guess I don't remember even acting out. I can't even remember using the knife on him." Face sighed loudly trying to get his emotions in check. "I just remember seeing the body lying there."

"I know, kid. Like I said, instincts. You did what you had to do to stay alive, even if it meant you had to kill someone." Hannibal pulled Face into a tighter embrace. "Don't worry, Face. The team doesn't think any less of you. We knew you didn't mean to do it when you broke down like you did." The two men stayed huddled together for a few minutes more until Face started to move to get up. "Where are you going?" Hannibal asked as he felt the younger man slip out of his arms.

"I better go check on BA. If he's awake like you say he is, he can't be too happy," Face said smiling slightly.

"I think that is a good idea," Hannibal said as tiredly rose to his feet. He knew that his men cared a great deal about each other and that they would try to comfort the other, trying to make each other forget about what happened. He watched as Face walked over to BA.

"Hey BA, how ya doing?" Face asked quietly so as not to scare the big man. BA's eyes slowly drifted to the man that was standing next to his seat.

"Face?" BA asked surprised. "What are you doing up?"

"Came to check on you," Face smiled. "Thought that you could use some company."

"Sure can," BA said with a slight smile of his own. "How are ya feelin'?"

"I've been better," Face answered truthfully as he sat in the seat next to the big man. He knew that there was no sense trying to con to the man, he'd see right through it. "But I think I'll be okay thanks to you guys." BA nodded his head at Face's answer. Hannibal stood there for a few minutes longer watching his two men talk to each other, giving each other the comfort that he needed. Hannibal then went up the front of the plane and sat down in the co-pilot's seat.

"Hannibal!" Murdock said surprised. "Is everything okay? How's Faceman?"

"I think everything is going to be okay, Murdock. He's with BA right now. He woke up a little while ago and we both talked for a bit." Hannibal sat there gazing out the window, pulling out a cigar from his pocket. "You know, Face was concerned about loosing us because he killed El Gato. He thought that we would all leave him. He didn't even realize that he was injured."

"That's Faceman for you," Murdock said shaking his head. "Everyone could tell that that wasn't our Face that killed El Gato. That was definitely Lieutenant Peck of the Special Forces that did it."

"You know that, I know that and so does BA, but I think it's going to be awhile before Face realizes that's the case," Hannibal answered.

"It took you a long time to deprogram him of that, but obviously it's still there," Murdock stated shaking his head.

"Yeah, I guess it is. That's why we're all going to take a vacation after we get back. Would you care to join us, Murdock?"

"I'd be happy too, Colonel," Murdock smiled back. "I'll call Richter and let him know that I'll be AWOL for a few weeks. He'll understand. Maybe I could even get him to give me a few pointers on how to help Face deal with this."

"Good. Once we land, I'll have BA get the van, we'll stash the plane, pile in and head to Maggie's first. I want her to check Face over real good before we go. Then we'll find a nice, quiet, secluded place somewhere and work through this problem."

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Murdock said in approval. "I'll even bring Billy."

Hannibal laughed at Murdock's comment and sat back while he watched his pilot start the landing procedures. For the first time this flight, he was actually starting to feel good about everything again. He realized that it might be awhile before Face was one hundred percent, but with the team's help he'd make it through. A smile appeared on his face as he thought about the next few weeks. "I'll love it when this plan comes together!"

The End!


End file.
